Paper 4, Section II, H

Galois Theory
Part II, 2010

Let KK be a field of characteristic 2,3\neq 2,3, and assume that KK contains a primitive cubic root of unity ζ\zeta. Let PK[X]P \in K[X] be an irreducible cubic polynomial, and let α,β,γ\alpha, \beta, \gamma be its roots in the splitting field FF of PP over KK. Recall that the Lagrange resolvent xx of PP is defined as x=α+ζβ+ζ2γx=\alpha+\zeta \beta+\zeta^{2} \gamma.

(i) List the possibilities for the group Gal(F/K)\operatorname{Gal}(F / K), and write out the set {σ(x)σGal(F/K)}\{\sigma(x) \mid \sigma \in \operatorname{Gal}(F / K)\} in each case.

(ii) Let y=α+ζγ+ζ2βy=\alpha+\zeta \gamma+\zeta^{2} \beta. Explain why x3,y3x^{3}, y^{3} must be roots of a quadratic polynomial in K[X]K[X]. Compute this polynomial for P=X3+bX+cP=X^{3}+b X+c, and deduce the criterion to identify Gal(F/K)\operatorname{Gal}(F / K) through the element 4b327c2-4 b^{3}-27 c^{2} of KK.